


Safe Place (Slowly Sinking)

by aches



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, honestly markhyuck is the most adorable ship on the planet, markhyuck cuddles cuz im trash, why do i write so much hurt/comfort what even
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 02:26:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aches/pseuds/aches
Summary: Everyone makes mistakes, and the bigger they are, the more desperate we get to fix them.Donghyuck's method might be dangerous for his heart, but it's the only way he can cope.Slowly sinking, wastingCrumbling like pastries- Ed Sheeran (A Team)





	Safe Place (Slowly Sinking)

Donghyuck can’t hear the rain in the subway station, but he feels it thrumming under his skin, its pellets beating to the rhythm of his heart. Vibrations under his feet tell him the train has arrived. Then it’s sweater paws, hunched shoulders, and the young boy stands clinging to the metal bar that is the only thing keeping him grounded. Somewhere along the train’s slow, rocking journey, he realizes that anyone could take advantage of him at that moment and he probably wouldn’t have the will or care to do anything about it.  
  
Vancouver melts in the calming birth of the sunset and probably cascades over Donghyuck’s face in a way that some people he knows might call pretty, but no one around him spares him a second glance, their pretty faces all glowing under the burning light too.  
  
Neighbourhoods melt into each other, filled with trees and rows of houses and adults walking home and scattered children running for fear of being caught in the dark. It is just before the terminus station that a boy finally steps off, shivering in the September air despite the thick hoodie covering his skin.  
  
Under the cover of trees and pavement and anonymity, Donghyuck’s feet pace faster and faster until the ground blurs beneath him and tears fly off his cheeks, rain finding storm drains to seep through out of the corners of his eyes. He feels screams and noises pressing into the sides of his throat and back of his teeth, but those are things he must hold in. He almost loses himself in the act of fleeing his actions and even himself, but he catches himself for the fact that he came for a purpose.  
  
There is a singular house on the street, a white one with two floors, a balcony, and a ladder always placed with convenience, and it is this house he seeks out. This is his sanctuary.  
  
It is only when Donghyuck stops in front of the black metal gate that he sees the drops of rain dotting the sleeve of his hoodie, though the dots fall less and less around him. Moving towards the ladder is blurry, and Donghyuck blinks his eyes, feeling more water bury itself in his cheeks. When he reaches the top of the ladder, moving slowly and making sure he doesn’t slip on the wet rungs, he looks into the window, from which light streams through.  
  
In the room beside the ladder, the bed is made and there is a backpack sitting by the door, and a figure sits hunched at the dark wooden desk. Donghyuck can’t even try to stop the rain escaping his eyes at this point, and the angry drops blur his eyes and make them sting. The rap of his knuckles against the window is loud along with the ugly gasps flying out from the cave of his chest. The figure is startled, but approaches the window quickly.  
  
“Hyuck?” Mark Lee’s hands find Donghyuck’s wrists, shoulders, head, even his cheeks, but they soon hook around his waist and pull him forward. Donghyuck is decent enough to help push himself through the window before his hands too find the older boy’s waist, and his face finds the spot where shoulder meets neck, one wet eye meeting warm skin, and the other meeting the rough material of Mark’s red tshirt. Soon the neatly made bed is a mess of limbs and blankets and the angry noises destroying Donghyuck’s throat. Mark doesn’t say anything for a while, knowing Donghyuck long enough to let his hand do the first stage of comforting, running up and down the younger boy’s back soothingly.  
  
The first thing Donghyuck does after the rain stops falling from his eyes, and the storm of his breath begins to calm, is ask Mark to turn the lights off. He obliges, reaching behind him and stretching in a way that makes the bones in his neck stand out in a fashion which a sculpture would itch to carve, and hits the light switch. Donghyuck settles himself closer into Mark’s warmth, nuzzling his nose against his neck.  
  
Mark looks at him, his eyes shining in the dark, and Donghyuck says, “I got your shirt all wet,” with cracks lining his shaky voice.  
  
Mark laughs lightly and shakes his head. “You know I don’t care.” Of course he knows. This has happened too many times, but Donghyuck still runs from every moment that might make him or his cheeks reveal too much. Being close to Mark is simultaneously the worst and best place to be vulnerable.  
  
“Hyuck, you wanna talk about it?” Comes Mark’s voice softly through the darkness, and Donghyuck wants to cry again. How could he deserve someone who cares enough to give him time to sort out his own problems, who looks at him like there is nothing else worth giving his attention to, whose arms are tight and sure and warm around his body despite the fact that everyone knows Mark hates being touchy with anyone.  
  
Donghyuck’s lips wobble, but he still manages to explain the fight with his father, the yelling and the mistakes and the bloody war of feelings that was a miscommunication in and of itself, an immature reaction from both sides. “He said that I have no respect for him or my mom’s feelings and I only care about what I want.” Donghyuck lets out in one breath. All the emotions rush back into his chest as he is finally able to turn autopilot mode off, feeling his cheeks soak up his tears again. “I’m literally useless. I just take up too much space.”  
  
Strong arms press Donghyuck’s face into Mark’s chest and Donghyuck wraps his arms tightly around Mark’s back, fisting his shirt in his hands and absorbing the feeling of someone holding him and not hating or judging him. This is everything he needs and more, and that’s how Mark Lee has always been, even during their dirtiest, most painful fights. They always end up back in each other’s arms because that’s where they feel safest.  
  
“Donghyuck,” Mark starts in a firm voice after a few moments. “First of all, you’re not selfish. How many times a week do you go out of your way to buy Chenle those sandwiches from the caf?” Before Donghyuck can say anything he starts again, shifting to look Donghyuck straight in the eyes, their faces inches apart. “We all make our parents mad, we all snap, and life gets really messy sometimes, but that’s okay. Your emotions are never gonna be perfectly in line, and when you’re exhausted things escalate way quicker. It’s okay to make a mess. Things will clean themselves up, and I promise your parents still love you no matter what.”  
  
Mark smiles, his thin lips pulling his cheeks up and his eyes crinkling, and Donghyuck can already imagine what happens when he smiles with his mouth wide open, eyes squished and nose scrunched as laughter escapes his throat. Donghyuck’s heart melts like Icarus attached to the burning Sun every time light escapes from Mark Lee.  
  
The two boys stare at each other for a few moments before Donghyuck startles at the feeling of Mark’s cool fingers gliding lightly across his cheeks and his thumb wiping away some of the tears stuck to the skin there.  
  
Then Mark says in a small voice, “And I’ll always be here.” And more firmly, “Mark and Donghyuck against the world, right?” The last sentence makes Donghyuck laugh, a high pitched joyful sound softly filling the air, and the first happy tears of the night fill his eyes uncontrollably, since Donghyuck has always been a boy that cries, especially since he knows Mark wouldn’t judge a single tear that escaped his eyes.  
  
“Yeah,” Donghyuck smiles, and looks away from Mark’s affectionate gaze, hoping he can’t feel the warmth now pulsing through his cheeks. He probably can.  
  
“Hey, Hyuckie?” Donghyuck’s heart stops for a moment at the sound of a new development to his nickname, something that shouldn’t phase him, but every ripple in the water of their relationship means storms exploding in his heart.  
  
“Yeah?” He asks in barely a whisper.  
  
“I-I love you.” And though it’s a sentence they used to yell at each other when parting as children being tugged away by their parents, the way Mark’s voice shakes and stutters as he says the words make Donghyuck’s heart stop and start all over again.  
  
Through the darkness, Donghyuck guesses at the darkening of Mark’s cheeks, the hope in his chest blundering forward and crashing through the walls of his heart. “I love you too,” he says with a grin and redness in his cheeks.  
  
And though he can hope to find something else waiting for them in the future, or hope to go home to a welcoming family, Donghyuck knows he doesn’t have to hope for Mark Lee to be there for him whenever he needs someone safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Oops the summary makes this seem so much more emo than it actually is...OH WELL  
> This started as a vent after I had a really bad day, but it was also lowkey inspired by the VLIVE NCT Dream did on 08/17/18 because the long draught for Markhyuck shippers finally ended, and I've always loved the idea of Markhyuck cuddles so this happened.  
>   
> 


End file.
